


An Irrevocably Gone Heart

by mochegato



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Maribat - Fandom, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, New Year's Eve, New Year's Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:35:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28455450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mochegato/pseuds/mochegato
Summary: Tim blackmails Marinette into attending a New Year's Eve gala with him.  Jason is determined to find out what Tim has on this gorgeous woman (hint: he won't, but he'll have a lot of fun investigating).
Relationships: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & TIm Drake, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Jason Todd
Comments: 13
Kudos: 267





	An Irrevocably Gone Heart

Tim tugged on her arm. “You’re coming with me.”

“What?” Marinette exclaimed a little louder than she meant to. She immediately looked around to see if any of the other party goers had noticed them and cringed at the eyes on her. She gave them a weak smile and moved closer to Tim, who was still pulling them toward the stairs. “No, no, no, no. This is a family thing.” She tried to pull away discretely but Tim had her arm in a firm lock. Damn vigilante training. She could break out of it of course, but not without making a scene in front of a growing audience, which was starting to include his family. 

They were all moving to the stairs like Tim was, and unwillingly her as well, to stand behind Mr. Wayne as he addressed the crowd at his New Year’s party. She briefly looked over to them to see if they had noticed her yet. One of the brothers in particular, Jason, had observed the interaction between her and Tim and was watching her carefully. She accidentally met his eyes and couldn’t look away. She saw a flicker of interest and amusement in his eyes and blushed at the attention. She was so caught up in his eyes, she stumbled slightly, giving Tim the advantage in dragging her the last few feet to the stairs.

“You’re like family. In fact, I like you more than most of my family so… You’re coming.” Tim grinned at her mercilessly. She couldn’t get away now without causing a stir in the crowd, drawing all eyes away from Mr. Wayne and to her. She was caught and they both knew it, trapped by societal convention. He pulled her onto the stairs next to him and the rest of the family, facing the crowd of party goers and reporters.

“Okay first, I _hate_ being in front of a lot of people. Second, this seems incredibly counterproductive,” Marinette hissed quietly at him.

“Depends on your goal,” he said with a polite, fake smile, keeping his eyes on the crowd. “Now smile for the cameras, Love.”

Marinette groaned quietly at him and turned to face the crowd with the practiced, PR worthy smile Adrien had taught her. She stood a polite distance from Tim, making it clear that although she was here with him, she wasn’t here _with_ him. Tim chuckled devilishly and pulled her closer to him, slinging his arm around her shoulders. “I’m going to make you pay for this.” She threatened through gritted teeth and a beautiful smile. “You know who I am but you won’t know where I am and you will never see me coming.”

“Calm down, Trevor. And you’re welcome.” His smile turned real and his eyes glistened with mirth. “Tomorrow our picture, and more importantly your clothes, will be everywhere in Gotham.”

As soon as Bruce was done with his welcoming speech, they bolted from the stairs to escape his family’s and reporter’s questions. Tim guided her as they ran through the maze of the manor. They finally stopped running in a back hallway, doubling over in laughter and out of breath. “Oh man, my family is going to drive themselves insane trying to figure out who you are.”

Marinette closed her eyes and groaned. “How did this help? It’s only going to make Bruce more curious about me to make sure I’m not a gold-digger or using you.”

“Marinette, calm down. You aren’t using me or abusing our friendship to get your name out there. It was my idea and as I recall, to get you to let me commission you for the suit and come with me, I had to blackmail you int...” She lunged at him to slam her hands over his mouth. 

She glared at him as she looked around to see if anyone heard them. As soon as she was sure nobody was around to hear them, missing the body listening to them around the corner, she batted at Tim with a pout. “ _They_ don’t know that and how are you going to explain it?”

“I’ll figure it out without saying anything important.” He looked back in the general direction of the party. “We should get back though.”

“Ugh, fine, but I’m not staying until midnight just for some trust fund prick to try to ‘slum it’ for a night with me. And next time, you come with your boyfriend, not me. And I can design both of your suits instead.” She adds with a smug grin.

“If you can get him into a suit, deal.” Tim scoffed. “Good luck with that by the way. Come on, give me one dance as a reprieve before I have to be sociable. And if any other trust fund pricks try anything with you, I promise to destroy them.” He gave her a wink.

“Like I need you to do that for me.” She snarked at him.

“Oh definitely not, but it would give me an acceptable excuse to leave the party.” Tim shrugged with a smile.

Jason watched them walk back toward the party from his spot tucked away in an alcove. Well, this night was certainly more interesting than he had anticipated. He followed them back to the party and kept an eye on the friends as they danced. The woman, Marinette, seemed to be having an awfully good time dancing and joking with Tim considering he was ‘blackmailing’ her, but then again if they were friends, like it seemed they were, it was likely to be more embarrassing than damning. 

As far as Jason could tell, despite how much she had complained to Tim earlier, Marinette was handling the crowd brilliantly. She managed to make the rounds at the party talking pleasantly with quite a few people. A few of her conversation partners had been attending Wayne parties for years and tonight was the first night Jason saw them give a genuine smile. But, if anyone made the mistake of trying to touch her a little too intimately or make a comment that was a bit too suggestive, or just flat out insulting, she sent them a dark glare that would make Batman proud and crowded their personal space in a way that had the aggressor backing away intimidated and Jason impressed.

Jason tore his eyes away from Marinette and moved to the bar to get some liquid patience. Tim might be a natural at mingling but he needed a little help to deal with this crowd. The only interesting part of the entire evening had been Tim’s friend. She had wandered around the room with an effortless grace and stood up for herself with just as effortless strength. It was a hard balance to maintain and she pulled it off beautifully, just like the rest of herself. 

Jason set his empty drink down and looked down the bar for the bartender. He didn’t find the bartender, but he did find the stunning woman herself sitting alone with an empty seat next to her. He moved quickly, seeing a few other men eying her with interest as well. “Is this seat taken?” He asked with a charming smile.

“It is not.” She said tiredly, not even bothering to look up. “My date isn’t using it right now.”

“Smooth.” Jason nodded in approval. “Timbo would just push me out if he wanted the seat. Well, he’d try anyway.” He took the seat and ordered another drink from the newly appeared bartender. “Want a refill?”

“I’m good thank you.” She continued staring at her drink.

Jason grinned at her. She wasn’t remotely interested in playing nice just for the sake of propriety. She wasn’t rude, just not easily impressed. “I’m Tim’s brother, Jason.”

She looked over at him in surprise and immediately cringed internally. He was the brother she had embarrassed herself gaping at earlier. “Oh, I’m sorry. Hi. Nice to meet you. I’m Marinette.” She reached her hand out to him with a smile. “Sorry, I thought you were another… never mind. Hi.”

He gave her a disarming smile and shook her hand. “Don’t worry about it, I understand. The kind of people who come to this are… rich is the nicest thing to say about almost any of them. And you know what they say, eat the rich.” He dropped her hand but kept his eyes on her. 

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Aren’t _you_ rich?”

He chuckled. “No, Bruce is. I make my own, significantly less red carpeted, way.”

She looked at him skeptically then eyed his tuxedo. “Awfully expensive tux for someone who isn’t rich.” She commented wryly.

“Bruce’s party, he wants me here, he pays. I don’t normally wear suits, let alone ones that cost more than six month’s rent.”

She studied the tuxedo again. “Six months, huh? That still affords you a pretty nice apartment by Gotham standards.”

He bobbed his head to the side in acknowledgement and studied her again, trying to make sense of her. “So, what does he have on you?”

She cocked her head to the side and stared at him in confusion as she tried to figure out what he meant. Her face scrunched in annoyance and her entire posture stiffened once she figured it out. “If you think Tim has to blackmail me into being his friend, you vastly underestimate your brother’s charms.”

“No I don’t.” Jason scoffed at her. “I meant bringing you here.”

She raised an eyebrow at him and set her mouth in a firm line. “You think he has to blackmail me to spend time with him? How is that better?”

“I think he blackmailed you to get you to come to this specific event. And I think that because I heard him say it to you in the hallway a little bit ago.” Jason responded matter-of-factly, taking another swig of his drink.

“Ah…” She looked back down at her drink and took a long sip trying to figure out how to respond. Well on the bright side, he wasn’t insulting Tim with his question, he was trying to understand if she was a threat. But, she wasn’t going to make it that easy for him. She looked back over to him and gave him a pointed look. “If it was something I wanted to share, it wouldn’t be blackmail material.” 

Jason grinned at her “True.” Still staring at her expectantly.

“Let’s just say there are things I would rather… uh…” she looked around cautiously, “ _Bruce Wayne_ , not know about me.”

Jason raised an eyebrow at her. “Is that so?”

“Yeah… Oh! No. Nothing like that. I’m not like Catwoman or one of the sirens or anything.” She waved her hands frantically in front of her.

He chuckled. “Honestly I don’t think that would be considered an issue for him.”

She cocked her head to the side, “True. The most bizarre relationship _ever_.”

“Not when Joker and Harley once existed.”

“Most _appalling_ relationship ever.”

Jason chuckled and looked into his glass until he realized what she had said. “Wait, how did you know…”

“What?”

“Catwoman and…” he motioned vaguely with his hand. She hadn’t confirmed she knew Bruce was Batman and he wasn’t about to out that particular secret if she didn’t know.

“Ohh,” She nodded in understanding and gave him a grin. “Your family isn’t as slick as they think they are, Red.”

Jason stared at her dumbfounded for a few seconds. She knew their secret and apparently Tim, the one person that matched Bruce in paranoia, wasn’t worried about her in the least. “And _he’s_ blackmailing _you_?” Jason asked incredulously. “How bad is your secret?”

“Not bad just… I don’t need someone critiquing all my life choices, you know? It’s a threat of annoyance, not retribution.”

“Mood.” Jason said lifting his glass to hers. She clinked hers to his with a sardonic smile. 

She was beautiful, smart, elegant, tough, funny, judicious, cautious, and far out of his league. But he was here now and they were having fun and he wasn’t stupid enough to blow a brilliant opportunity. Jason gazed over his shoulder toward the dancefloor and back to her. He looked her up and down and gave her a roguish smile. “Care to dance?”

“I didn’t take you for a dancer.” She responded as she moved toward the dancefloor and held out her hand for him.

He grabbed her hand, holding it close to his chest and wrapped his other hand around her waist, pulling her closer to him. “It has its advantages.”

Marinette looked up at him with wide eyes, a light blush dusting her cheeks. “I see what you mean.” She ducked her head trying to collect herself. He wasn’t the first handsome man she’d danced with, why was this one making her lose her composure? She wasn’t 15 anymore, damn it!

“So how did you figure it out?” he asked casually. He clearly wasn’t upset, just curious.

“How does everyone not? Seriously, Bruce admitted it under oath.” She scoffed. “Plus you guys are terrible at hiding it. You don’t even try to act or look different. Oh look Bruce Wayne has a new ward or person who hangs out with the family all the time. Oh look, there’s a new vigilante with the same build and hair color. Pure coincidence surely. Then there’s the whole butts match thing.”

“Wow, been studying Bruce’s butt that closely, huh?” Jason raised an unamused eyebrow at her.

“Who said anything about _Bruce’s_ butt?” She asked without thinking about it. Jason spluttered at her. Her eyes widened and her face paled as she realized what she had just said.

“Forget I said that,” she pleaded, her face turning bright red.

“Oh fuck no. That’s the best compliment I’ve ever gotten. A gorgeous woman has been studying my ass so intently she was able to identify me by it?” He gave her a brilliant smile so wide, his cheeks would surely hurt the next morning. “My ego will never come down from this.”

Marinette groaned in embarrassment and buried her head in her hands and then buried her head and hands in his chest, trying to erase all evidence of her existence. Jason wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly as he roared with laughter. Marinette could feel his body vibrating with the sound. The movement calmed her enough that she was willing to remove her hands from her face but not her face from his chest. “I hope you’ll let me return the favor someday.” He whispered in her ear.

Marinette jerked her head back to look at him, her eyes wide and cheeks a deep crimson. When her eyes met the wicked glint in his, she narrowed hers, a hint of a smile on her lips. “Good luck with that. Magic is a hell of a thing.”

Jason looked at her confused. That was not a response he was expecting… or understood. They stared in each other’s eyes for a few moments, both trying to figure out something about the other. Marinette finally broke the silence with a teasing smile. “So, you’re Jason, huh? I’ve heard a few things about you.” She chuckled lightly when he rolled his eyes at that and groaned lightly. “Did you really do a flip off of one building to crash through the skylight of another and beat up a bunch of henchmen then set their drug room on fire all while quoting Shakespeare?”

He barked out a loud laugh and smiled brightly at her, his eyes gleaming with mischief. “It was Austen.”

She smiled back at him but quickly narrowed her eyes and quirked her head to the side. “Prove it,” She challenged him, a playful lilt in her voice. He looked at her questioningly not sure how exactly he was supposed to crash through a skylight when there wasn’t one here. “Quote some Austen to me. I have a hard time believing the formidable… _you_ , is secretly a book nerd.”

A delighted smile creeped onto his face. Marinette was the first person to ask him about his love for literature and encourage him to indulge in it. He tried to remember all the many Jane Austen quotes he’d memorized through reading and rereading her works so often. What would be the most impressive quote? Which one would wow her the most? He ransacked his brain, but suddenly his mind was blank. He couldn’t think of anything. The harder he tried to remember, the harder it was to think. He opened and closed his mouth a few times.

Marinette watched the panic flit across his eyes. She cringed internally. She got anxiety when she was put on the spot. Jason must be the same. It was one thing to do it in the heat of the moment, without thinking about it, but being asked to perform on demand, was a different kind of pressure. She gently cupped his cheek and brought his eyes back down to hers and gave him a soft smile. “Maybe you can show me later. I’ll still be impressed tomorrow.”

He looked in her eyes and instantly felt himself calm down. Her eyes were shining with compassion, like she understood exactly what was going on in his head and believed in him. He pulled her closer and gave her a tender smile in return. He ran his fingers slowly up and down her back, “The very first moment I beheld you, my heart was irrevocably gone.” He quoted quietly. 

Marinette gasped at his frankness. She leaned her head against his chest, trying to hide the deep blush that enveloped her cheeks and spread to her ears. After a few moments of silent swaying in his arms, she cleared her throat and weakly spoke, “That… yeah, uh… that works. Point proven.”

He chuckled lightly, a proud smile working its way onto his face. He moved his hand so they were both wound around her waist, holding her close to him. She settled further into his chest, causing him to sigh contentedly. They danced together for a while, refusing others that attempted to cut in with either one of them, Marinette doing so significantly more politely than Jason did. After a while, Tim tapped her on the shoulder. “I thought _I_ was your date.” He stated with a suspicious smile.

“Oh fuck off, Timbers.” Jason grunted at him, twirling Marinette so she was on the other side of him from Tim.

Marinette poked her head out around Jason’s side to give Tim a sheepish look. “Sorry, Tim. You were busy. Did you need a break from socializing?”

“Uh huh,” he responded sarcastically. “No, I’m good. And I thought you weren’t going to stay until midnight? Something…” he eyed Jason meaningfully, “come up?”

Marinette looked at him in surprise and searched for a clock. Surely it hadn’t been hours. If felt like it had just been a few minutes with Jason. She finally found the prominent clock that had been hung to countdown to midnight and gaped at it. “Oh my God. It’s almost midnight!” She looked back to Tim in time to see him pulling back from whispering something in Jason’s ear.

“Well, I’m going to go call Kon so we can ring in the New Year together in some way.” Tim said tightly. He leaned over and kissed Marinette on the cheek. “Happy New Year, Marinette. I hope it’s a happy one.” He gave Jason a pointed look.

“Happy New Year, Tim. I hope it is for you as well.” She smiled at him. As soon as he left, Jason pulled Marinette back into his embrace. “What was that about?” She asked him.

“What?” He asked innocently.

“The whispering. There isn’t a problem is there? You’re not going to have to run off 2 minutes before midnight?”

Jason chuckled at her. “No. No, that was him warning me to treat you like you deserve.”

“Like I…” she thought about it and gave him a half-hearted smile before muttering. “Not sure if that is a threat to you or me.” 

“Threat for me, blessing for you.” Jason answered softly.

“You think too highly of me.” She shook her head with a small smile.

“Doubt it.” He answered back quietly. “And it sounds like I’m going to be held personally accountable if your year isn’t amazing, so I better get on that.”

**10**

“Sounds like you’ll have to keep a close eye on me. I can be a handful.” She said quietly, looking up at him from under her lashes.

**9**

“Rough job, but amazing work environment.” He answered just as quietly, pulling her even closer.

**8**

“And what are the benefits to giving you the job?” She gave him a playful smile.

**7**

“You get to see my roguishly handsome face and get Austen and Shakespeare quoted at you daily.” He grinned back.

**6**

“What if I prefer Verne or Hugo?” She asked with exaggerated innocence.

**5**

“Then I’ll learn.” His eyes turned serious and his voice husky.

**4**

Jason slowly moved one of his hands up her back, around her shoulder, and rested it on her neck, stroking her jaw with his thumb.

**3**

Marinette parted her lips in surprise and leaned into his hand.

**2**

Jason leaned down toward Marinette, stopping a bit short of her lips, giving her the chance to pull back if she wanted to.

**1**

Marinette rose up to close the gap, meeting his lips in a soft, tentative, hopeful kiss.

The room erupted into cheers and applause at the clock striking midnight. Balloons dropped from the ceiling all around them, but the only thing Jason or Marinette noticed was each other. The feeling of the other’s lips against theirs. The feel of the other’s hands on their bodies and the feel of their own hands on them. The warmth of each other’s bodies against their own. The deep need that grew the longer they kissed. When they finally broke apart, it was just far enough to catch their breath and stare in each other’s eyes.

“This was a great way to ring in the New Year.” She whispered against his lips.

He nodded absentmindedly, still in a daze from the kiss. “There’s still a few more time zones that need to be rung in,” he said leaning down to capture her lips again in a passionate kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> She never said it was Jason's butt she matched...


End file.
